Peterborough United confident they 'deserved' their win over Mansfield Town
Peterborough United manager Luke Williams said Mansfield Town put his side under a lot of pressure on Saturday but the win was a deserved one in the end.
There were late celebrations for the home fans at the Weston Homes Stadium after the Posh sank Stags with a stoppage time winner.
Nigel Clough’s side got themselves back into the conversation thanks to Michael Smith’s first goal in Mansfield colours but late heartbreak denied them a positive result to take back home.
Harry Leonard struck in the third minute of injury time to snatch all three points and bank Peterborough’s first win of the season. Despite Deji Oshilaja’s attempt to block the chance, the ball fell back into the path of Leonard, who made no mistake from point-blank range.
It was a frustrating result for Stags, especially after their 2-1 win over Doncaster Rovers during League One’s opening weekend.
Posh manager Williams praised the shift Mansfield Town put in but ultimately believes his side deserved to come out on top.
“I think the players really deserved that for their work rate and for creating openings and being able to defend well enough to keep out the opposition to give us the advantage. So I think all round, we just about deserved that,” the manager told club media.
“I thought from kick-off, Mansfield were excellent and really put us under a lot of pressure. They kept switching play and finding Lucas Akins in particular. But after that period, we weathered that and I think we started to get control of the game.
“At half-time it was very much about sustaining intensity and making sure we don’t dip. I thought the changes the guys came into the game with really gave us a boost.”
The feeling that Posh deserved the win was shared around the team, as goal-scorers Leonard and Ben Woods both echoed Williams’ post-match thoughts.
“We watched Mansfield in the week and we spoke about Harry [Leonard] dropping down and the centre-halves following, giving me and Brandon Khela licence to run past them,” Woods told the club (via Peterborough Telegraph).
“We just said keep going at half-time because we were quite comfortable in the first half and were unlucky not to go in 1-0 up. We knew we’d finally break them down if we kept going.”
Leonard added: “We deserved to win. But you always wonder if a winning goal was going to come and thankfully for us it did. It was a great feeling when the ball hit the back of the net.”